The Washington Capitals have killed 13 straight penalties dating back to overtime of Game 2 of their first-round playoff series against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
It’s far from, say, 53 straight kills — the NHL record set by the Capitals, coincidentally, in the 1999-2000 season — but it must feel something like that right now.
After their penalty kill went a combined 4-for-8 in Games 1 and 2 and they lost twice in overtime, the Capitals turned it around, at least partly accounting for their three straight wins that wrested control of this series away from Columbus.
Throughout the series, Capitals coach Barry Trotz has alluded to adjustments the team has made between games, as any team in any sport would do. Though he remained coy Sunday on the details or individual matchups the coaching staff has looked at, he attested to their impact on the ice.
“The penalty kill has been a major factor for us in the last few games,” Trotz said. “(The Capitals) keep making adjustments, just as last night, I thought Columbus made a lot of adjustments on their penalty kill. They were a lot more aggressive than they were in Columbus and they end up with a shorthanded goal. This is the time when we’re still trying to tweak things.”
Trotz added he would meet with staff Sunday to continue making those tweaks, because the Blue Jackets “changed some things on their power play a little bit yesterday” — continuing what’s essentially a chess match between Trotz and Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella.
Tortorella was asked Sunday whether the Jackets’ power play was having problems entering the offensive zone when the Capitals face them at the blue line.
“There were times where we had our entries. We just make the wrong play,” Tortorella said. “I thought we struggled just on making simple plays on our power play last night. … There wasn’t many parts of our game that I didn’t like, but that part of the game, as far as our entries and as far as the simple puck movement of a power play, I thought we struggled a bit.”
Trotz wouldn’t say whether individual Capital players have stepped up in that phase, instead praising the unit.
“I don’t think I can single out anybody. They’ve all stepped up,” he said. “The penalty kill is as good as the five guys that you have, your four and your goaltender. They’ve been very committed there.”
The Capitals and the San Jose Sharks are the only teams in the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs currently scoring on at least 30 percent of their power plays and killing 80 percent or more of their penalties.
In a series that’s seen 45 total penalties, including nine that came in the first two periods of Game 5, special teams are an important edge for Washington to have. Trotz chalks up the number of penalties to the intensity of the postseason.
“I don’t think the nastiness of some previous series that we’ve had is there,” Trotz said. “There’s some chippiness, but I think just the referees, you know, they’ve been mandated to keep the game as clean as possible and I think the players recognize that, in fact, you can’t get those extracurricular stuff that you do around scrums after the whistle.”
Will the Capitals be able to keep it up if they make it to the Eastern Conference Semifinals? If they win Game 6 Monday night in Columbus, a series with the Pittsburgh Penguins is in the cards for the third straight season. The Penguins clinched their opening-round series win Sunday afternoon by beating the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6, 8-5.
The Penguins led the NHL in the regular season by scoring on 26.2 percent of power plays. But in their second-round series a year ago, which Washington lost in seven games, the Capitals’ penalty kill went 19-for-22.
And whenever the Capitals and Penguins play, the “nastiness of some previous series” Trotz referred to may rear its head.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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